So Colin is almost 10 months and here I am posting his 9 month stats. Oh well, better late than never right? 🙂

Weight: 19.1 lbs (46%)
Height: 28 in (27%)
Head circum: 17.5 cm (29%)

These days Colin is getting even better at crawling and cruising. He still loves to clap and squeal. I was a little concerned that he wasn’t really “talking” much but right after his 9 mo appt he started babbling away.

He got pretty sick with roseola last week which was really sad to see. He was super irritable and didn’t want to eat anything. I’m so thankful that he’s back to his happy self again. He’s eating well again and loves to feed himself finger foods.

Colin is a total thumb sucker and his thumb is his constant companion and comfort. He sucks it so much that his thumb has a developed an intense looking callous. He loves it so much that he even sucks it during mealtimes, in between bites. Aiyaya.

Overall, he’s just a little love bug and I love him to pieces. He’s such a precious gift to us and we are so thankful for him. Praying that the Lord would show him mercy and that he would have a tender, teachable heart that loves the Lord and others.

Colin is already 8 months old now and I’ve been so bad about updating this blog. I really need to do a better job because I don’t want to forget all the things Colin is doing at this age. I will try!

He started army crawling when he was 7 months old and just recently he started crawling for real. He is crawling all over the place and we finally had to put a gate up to block the kitchen from him. He’s also been getting really good at pulling himself up on things and getting back down. His sleeping is pretty good. He’s still sleeping straight through the night for about 12 hours. I think he wakes up between 6-6:30 but he’ll just play in his crib until I come to get him closer to 7. When I do get him, he is ready to eat and wants nothing to do with hugs and kisses. 🙂 He has 6 teeth already. He’s been eating a lot more solids and beginning to eat some finger foods like bread, cheese, and fruits. Can’t wait til he’s eating all table food! He loves clapping, sucking his thumb, patting Mommy’s back, making funny noises with his mouth, eating kka kka, and being held. He really is a sweet sweet baby and I just can’t get enough of him. I’m still nursing him and those times are especially precious to me since it’s just him and me.

We were able to take a short vacation to San Diego this past weekend. We really wanted to take the boys, but especially Caden to Sea World. It was so fun to experience all the shows and exhibits through his eyes. He loved the shows and he still chants, “Go Shamu!” at home.

This was the 2nd year we went to Tustin Sports Park for their annual Easter Egg hunt. Last year Caden was only a year and a half so we had to help him get his eggs and goodies. Wow, what a difference a year makes! This year he was running around and filling his Easter basket without any help from us. This was Colin’s first Easter egg hunt but too bad he was sleeping the entire time. 🙂

We pray that in the years to come our boys will understand the true meaning behind Easter Sunday, that it is actually Resurrection Sunday, the day our Lord resurrected from the dead, conquering sin and securing our salvation. May they see what a truly glorious day it is.

Some new developments for Colin are:
-He’s the King of rolling! He just rolls and rolls and rolls! One day he was just laying there and the next day he was in a totally different spot than where I put him! So fun.
-He’s eating all kinds of solids now! He’s had avocado, pears, squash, green beans, carrots, sweet potato, spinach, and so far he likes it all!
-We finally set up the crib for him and he’s been getting some good independent time in there.
-His 4th tooth is coming in!
-People keep saying he looks like a girl. It must be his fair skin and long locks. 🙂
-He is blowing raspberries like no other. He makes the funniest faces and noises and I love it. It is so cute and hilarious.

Caden is almost 2 1/2 years old and I am amazed at how much he can say and do. He is talking up a storm now and surprising us all the time with what he knows. Some things I want to remember about him at this age…

He loves doing puzzles! He has two wooden puzzles that he takes apart and puts together pretty much every day, sometimes 5-6 a day. He’ll pretty much try any puzzle I give him and he’s good at them too!

He transitioned himself to the toddler bed a few weeks ago. One day he told Daddy that he wanted to sleep in the big boy bed or as he called it “Mommy’s bed” (since I used to fall asleep there when he was waking up a lot in the middle of the night). We thought it was going to be hard to transition him but he just did it by himself. Woohoo!

He’s getting more scared easily. He keeps telling us about things that are “scary.” Random pictures of animals and certain characters from his favorite T.V. show have been scaring him. I didn’t take him too seriously until he came running to me, screaming and shaking in fear one day.

He’s been saying “thank-you” whenever we give him something or do something for him. It’s so sweet.

He LOVES the small world ride from Disneyland right now. He sings the song and talks about the ride all day long. DP recorded us on the ride and Caden wants to watch it EVERYDAY.

ABCs- Caden is still totally into his abcs. He’s got the letters, sounds, and song down. I think he might know them better than me. He can also sing most of the abc song in spanish. He’s now beginning to sound out words in books and form words with his magnetic letters. It’s funny though because he’ll put letters together like qat and oap and ask “what’s that?”

Helping Mommy- he’s been such a good helper these days. He loves finding trash and throwing things in the trash can for me. I’ll ask him to get stuff for me like colin’s burp cloth or put stuff away like colin’s sleep sack and he does it happily. He’ll say, “Otay (okay) mommy.” Then I’ll thank him after he does it and he says “you’re welcome mommy, you’re welcome.”. Love him!!

Negotiating- we’ll tell him it’s time for storytime and ask him to pick out some books. He’ll say 20 books? We’ll tell him no, 5 books. Then he’ll say “how bout 9 books?” He does the same thing with snacks! He’ll ask for 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 cookies, I’ll tell him no, 1 cookie and then he’ll say, “how bout 3 cookies?” Then I usually say okay. I’m such a sucker!!

Sleep

Ah, he used to be such a good sleeper. Seriously, he would take 3 hour naps and sleep 12 hours at night without a peep. I don’t know what happened but after he turned 2 sleep has been a bit of a battle. Caden went through a phase where he would cry and scream after we put him down and left the room for the night. Now we take our time putting him down and we stay until he falls asleep or leave his door open a little which comforts him. The other issue we’re having is that he’s been waking up several times in the middle of the night. I have to come to his room and tell him to lay down which he does immediately. I usually end up just sleeping on his toddler bed until I wake up and go back to his room. I’ve heard from several moms that it’s common for kids to go through this at his age. One mom told me it lasted over a year with her son. Nooooo!!!!

Likes

T.V. – I’m sure this is not surprising but my son loves tv. His favorite shows right now are The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Super Why. I know tv gets a bad rap but all I know is that I am sooo thankful for it. Caden’s learned a ton from it and all the shows he watches are very educational and mom (me) approved. There are set times that I allow him to watch it and I must say that those are happy times for both me and him. 🙂

ABCs- see above

Dislikes

Taking pictures- he is soooo over taking pictures. He used to be good about looking at the camera but I think I’ve tortured him with too much picture taking. Now he constantly avoids looking at the camera and tells me, “no cheese!”

Sleep- see above.

Again like Colin, there’s so much more I can write about but I’ll stop here for now. Hopefully my next post will be about how much better he’s sleeping. 🙂

Cathie inspired and encouraged me to do a detailed update on Colin’s 4th month like Ollie so here goes.

Special talents

Sucking his fingers- he’s got the sucking thing down. He can suck just 1 finger or put his whole hand in his mouth. I love it since that’s what he does to soothe himself to sleep.

Making Mommy melt with his smiles. Seriously, every time he makes eye contact with me, his face lights up with the biggest grin and I just melt like butter.

Eating

Colin’s drinking about 30-32 oz per day now. My milk supply got really low after I got sick with the stomach flu so Colin started to refuse nursing. Thankfully lots of fenugreek has helped my supply go up and now I’m nursing him 2-3 feedings out of the 5. I’m realizing how impatient my child can be because he really hates waiting for my let down. He wants it immediately so it’s just been easier for me to give him the bottle for the final feedings of the day.

Sleep

Colin is a good sleeper for the most part. Especially since we started putting him in the closet, he’s been sleeping really well. Kinda sad that he’s in the closet but hey, it works for us. 🙂 He knows now that when the sleep sheep goes on that it’s time to sleep and he immediately starts sucking on his fingers. He still occasionally wakes up early in the middle of the night but I think it’s because his sleeves come down and he can’t suck his fingers to soothe himself. :(. He’s great about taking his naps for now and I love him for that.
He has a harder time falling asleep when we’re out but I think it’s because he’s so used to sleeping on his tummy. I really can’t complain about his sleeping.

Likes

The exersaucer- he can stay in it for quite some time which I’m really thankful for. He loves looking at and touching all the little attachments.

This is probably an obvious one but he loves getting attention from his family. I feel guilty at times because he doesn’t get nearly as much attention as Caden did so I try to really treasure the times I have with him. I actually don’t really mind when he wakes up in the middle of the night because it’s my special time with him with no distractions. He just loves when we play with him, hold him, give him kisses. He’s really starting to smile more at Caden too these days. Caden will read to him and ask him questions like “How old are you?” and Colin just smiles away.

Dislikes

The doorway jumper- we’ve only put him in it a few times but so far not so good. He keeps spinning around in it and starts whimpering and putting on the saddest face after a few minutes. We’ll keep trying but for now it’s a dislike.

Getting his fingernails cut- he doesn’t hate it but he sure doesn’t like it. He does not like having his fingers restrained and so it’s really hard for me to keep his hands still. It’s crazy because his nails are so sharp and they grow like crazy!!

I could probably go on and on but I’ll stop here since I’m thinking I need to do one of these for Caden too. Probably not today but sometime soon. 🙂